Though some fracking is already taking place in the state, today’s news “comes on the heels of the department’s release last week of proposed new regulations for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in natural gas development on public lands,” according to Reuters.

There has also been some commentary on the process, too, and it looks like fracking proponents have hit back at critics.

Check it out: in “The allure of fracking,” Stephen Stromberg makes the case that conservationists should be excited about regulations and guidelines, as to “encourage safer extraction without closing off access to resources. Anti-natural gas activists should apply the same logic more often.”

This sounds like a nice compromise in theory, but it’s not altogether convincing that extraction will actually go off without a hitch.

Overall, he uses today’s news about Utah to claim that “gas is an inexpensive bridge that seems already to be helping the United States meet its medium-term climate goals, giving us some time as renewables get cheaper.”

And in Forbes, a pro-gas essay repeats the claim that fracking opponents distort facts about water and air quality concerns.

The Voice is reaching out to get a better understanding of pollution data. We’ll update when we hear back.